Raphael Stevens

Michigan and its automotive industry remain critical to the presidential election, as Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump campaign in the state.
Auto executives and lobbyists told CNBC that they’re preparing for all outcomes in the election — and electric vehicles, trade, tariffs, China, emissions regulations and labor are their top issues.
Officials expect a Harris victory to be a continuation, but not a copy, of the past four years under President Joe Biden, while they think Trump would likely return to policies and actions from his first presidential term.

New Ford F-150 trucks go through the assembly line at the Ford Dearborn Plant on April 11, 2024 in Dearborn, Michigan. 
Bill Pugliano | Getty Images

DETROIT — The automotive industry has become a crucial topic during the 2024 presidential election as Michigan — home of the Motor City and 1.1 million automotive jobs — remains a critical swing state.
Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump, and their running mates and supporters have made Michigan a second home in recent weeks as the campaigns attempt to win over undecided voters in the Great Lakes State.

Since 2008, whichever candidate has won the state has moved into the White House, including Trump in 2016 and President Joe Biden in 2020.
“Michigan’s 16 electoral votes have helped thrust Autos into the debate. Between Trump’s hyperactive and contradictory statements and Harris’ quieter views lay deep differences but also convergence,” Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois wrote in an investor note Monday.
While major automakers and suppliers have shied away from publicly endorsing either presidential candidate, executives and lobbyists from several companies spoke to CNBC on the condition of anonymity to discuss how they’re preparing for each candidate, as well as a likely divided Congress.
Electric vehicles, trade, tariffs, China, emissions regulations and labor are among the top issues automakers are monitoring, according to industry executives and policy experts.

Harris vs. Trump

Officials expect a Harris victory to be a continuation, but not a copy, of the past four years under Biden. They think she would potentially be more understanding of businesses, but there are concerns.

Some of her policies and potential appointments are unclear, experts said, and her alignment with the United Auto Workers, particularly union President Shawn Fain who has been a combative foe to automakers, is concerning to some.

US Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris greets union workers as she tours an International Union of Painters and Allied Trades training facility in Macomb, Michigan, on October 28, 2024. 
Drew Angerer | AFP | Getty Images

If Trump wins reelection, automotive industry officials largely expect that he’ll return to policies and actions from his first presidential term, but those stances could be potentially more aggressive than they were before.
If he’s in office, insiders expect he would roll back or eliminate tightening federal emissions and fuel economy like he did during his first term; renew a battle between California and other states that set their own standards; and potentially enact funding changes to the Biden administration’s key Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 legislation.
Officials said it would be difficult for Trump to completely gut the IRA, but he could defund or limit EV subsidies through executive orders or other policy actions.
Automakers, suppliers and other auto-related companies are preparing for both outcomes as well as a split in Congress, insiders said.

Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as he visits a campaign office in Hamtramck, Michigan, U.S. October 18, 2024. 
Brian Snyder | Reuters

“There’s no perfect scenario. Both candidates offer some opportunities and challenges,” said a leading lobbyist and public policy expert for a major automaker. “Everyone in our business has to look at the gamut of scenarios.”
Some Wall Street analysts speculate legacy automakers — specifically the “Detroit” companies General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler parent Stellantis — would benefit most with Trump and Republican control of Congress.
EV startups such as Rivian Automotive and Lucid Group would benefit more with a Democratic win, largely due to expected plans involving EVs and fuel economy requirements. That’s despite Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s continued support for Trump.

Emissions regulations

The most imminent issues for automakers are fuel economy and emissions regulations, specifically regarding 2026 model year regulations for California and several states that follow them such as Washington, Oregon and New York.
Current requirements under the “Advanced Clean Cars II” regulations of 2022 call for 35% of 2026 model year vehicles, which will begin to be introduced next year, to be zero-emission vehicles. Battery-electric, fuel cell and, to an extent, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles qualify as zero emission.
The California Air Resources Board reports 12 states and Washington, D.C., have adopted the rules; however, roughly half have them starting for the 2027 model year. They are part of CARB’s Advanced Clean Cars regulations that include mandating 100% of new vehicle sales be zero-emission models by 2035.

Only 11 states and the District of Columbia had an EV market share above 10% to begin this year, according to the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade association and lobby group that represents most major automakers operating in the U.S.
Officials said regardless of who wins the White House, many automakers will push for the CARB mandates to be postponed. They also would expect Trump to roll back or freeze the Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standards for model years 2027-2031.
Several automotive insiders said they expect Harris would work on a middle ground for such standard with the automakers, much like Biden, to an extent, has done.

EVs, IRA

Electric vehicles and the U.S. policies supporting them, such as the Inflation Reduction Act, are top of mind for automotive industry executives and lobbyists. There could be major changes in regulations and incentives for EVs if Trump regains power, which has placed the industry in a temporary limbo.
“Depending on the election in the U.S., we may have mandates; we may not,” Volkswagen Group of America CEO Pablo Di Si said Sept. 24 during an Automotive News event. “Am I going to make any decisions on future investments right now? Obviously not. We’re waiting to see.”

Electric vehicles transformed from a popular talking point for Democrats four years ago to a rallying call for Republicans.
Republicans, led by Trump, have largely condemned EVs, saying that they are being forced upon consumers and that they will ruin the U.S. automotive industry. Trump has vowed to roll back or eliminate many vehicle emissions standards under the Environmental Protection Agency and incentives to promote production and adoption of the vehicles.
In contrast, Democrats, including Harris, have historically supported EVs and related incentives.
Harris hasn’t been as vocal about backing EVs lately amid slower-than-expected consumer adoption of the vehicles and consumer pushback. She has said she does not support an EV mandate such as the Zero-Emission Vehicles Act of 2019, which she co-sponsored during her time as a senator, that would have required automakers to sell only electrified vehicles by 2040.
Lucid Group CEO Peter Rawlinson told CNBC on Monday that regardless of which presidential candidate wins the election, he believes America’s EV industry is still in its infancy and needs to continue to be “nurtured.”
Rawlinson, whose company has the most efficient EVs on sale, also argues the IRA should favor not just the size of a battery, like it currently does, but the efficiency of the vehicles.
“That’s effectively incentivizing electron-guzzling EVs,” he said. “It actually incentivized to put more batteries in and be less efficient.”

Trade/tariffs and China

Led by fears of China’s automotive industry expanding globally, both Trump and Harris have expressed intentions to review the U.S. North American trade deal, formally known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
The deal, which replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, was negotiated under Trump’s first term in office and took effect in 2020. However, the former president and Democrats have said it needs to be improved to better support American automotive production.
While Trump touted the deal when it was renegotiated, Harris was one of 10 U.S. senators who voted against USMCA at the time.
GM CEO Mary Barra last week said the automaker is “paying careful attention” to the election, including how potential changes in trade and tariffs could impact the company.
“We have and we’ll continue to engage constructively with the policymaking process regardless of the election outcome. When you look at the number of jobs created in the U.S., even with some vehicles that are manufactured outside, a lot of them are in our partners from an ally perspective,” she said. “It’s a very complex situation.”
Tariffs are central to Trump’s plan for the auto industry. He has said he would be willing to increase tariffs dramatically to prevent Chinese automakers from importing cars into the U.S. from factories in Mexico.
Chinese automakers are not currently doing that, but are expected to attempt to use that method of importing in the years ahead, as they expand sales and build localized production plants in the country.

Harris has reportedly called Trump’s tariff proposals “a sales tax on the American people.” The vice president hasn’t outlined any specific changes she’d make to the current tariff structure if elected, including on Biden’s announcement of raising the tariff rate on EVs imported from China from 25% to 100%.
Non-U.S.-based automakers, which together account for 48% of U.S. production and 52% of USMCA production, look more positively leveraged to Harris winning, according to Jefferies.

Labor

Of the many issues regarding the automotive industry, officials who spoke to CNBC were nearly unanimous regarding labor: They’re concerned a Harris win would continue to mean increased power for organized labor.
Biden, followed by Harris, gave the United Auto Workers and Fain — the union’s president — more spotlight than any previous presidents in modern times, including a speech at the Democratic National Convention.
The UAW arguably has more political clout than any time in a generation, led by Fain and his top advisors who he brought in from outside the union’s ranks. But there has been a divide in the UAW and other unions regarding the historically Democratic-backed organizations and their members.

While the Teamsters declined to endorse a candidate due to a divide in the union, UAW leaders not only endorsed Harris but have been a driving force for her election campaign in Michigan and other states.
The UAW last week said internal polling showed increasingly “strong support for Kamala Harris over Donald Trump, with Harris’ lead over Trump surging in the last month.”
Meanwhile, Trump and Fain have consistently criticized one another over the past year, as the union attempts to organize as many auto plants as possible following major contract gains won during negotiations last year with the traditional Detroit automakers.
Blue-collar workers such as UAW members were viewed as crucial supporters for Trump’s first presidential election over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016.
— CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.

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Duke men’s basketball player Cooper Flagg has agreed to a name, image and likeness deal with PepsiCo-owned Gatorade.
Flagg will likely be the first overall draft pick in next year’s NBA Draft.
Flagg is one of many players capitalizing on their NIL opportunities in this new era of college sports.

Cooper Flagg, #2 of the Duke Blue Devils, moves the ball against the Arizona State Sun Devils during the game at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina, on Oct. 27, 2024.
Grant Halverson | Getty Images

Gatorade is adding another big-name athlete to its already loaded portfolio.
First-year Duke men’s basketball player Cooper Flagg has agreed to a name, image and likeness deal with PepsiCo-owned Gatorade, according to a Tuesday announcement. Flagg is projected to be the first overall draft pick in the 2025 National Basketball Association Draft and already has NIL deals with brands including New Balance and New Era.

“This has been a big year for me on and off the court, and Gatorade has been there the whole way,” Flagg said in a news release. “From being named the Gatorade Best Male Player of the Year to now officially joining the team, it’s been surreal to have my name mentioned with some of the biggest names in basketball. The Gatorade roster is iconic, and I’m excited to work with them as I take this next step.”  
As part of the deal, Gatorade will use Flagg in its marketing. Terms of the deal, like Flagg’s others, are undisclosed.
Flagg is the latest example of what is already a dramatically different college sports landscape than what existed prior to 2021. Since the approval of NIL deals, college athletes have been able to capitalize on endorsement deals in ways they never could before.
Players like Flagg, a highly touted prospect and likely NBA star, have been able to net NIL deals, some of them reportedly worth millions of dollars.
Flagg is Gatorade’s first men’s college basketball athlete, joining women’s college basketball stars such as University of Connecticut’s Paige Bueckers and University of Southern California’s JuJu Watkins as well as collegiate football stars such as Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders.

“Cooper is an incredible talent who quickly emerged as one of the best young athletes in the nation, and we know he has a bright future ahead of him,” said Jeff Kearney, global head of sports marketing at Gatorade, in a statement. “At Gatorade, we work with the best of the best, so we’re proud to welcome Cooper to the family and are excited to be fueling him as his collegiate career begins.”
Flagg has inked his NIL deals all before playing in a college basketball game that counts toward a season record. Duke plays its first regular-season game Monday against Maine.

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Pfizer reported third-quarter revenue and adjusted profit that blew past expectations.
The company hiked its full-year outlook as its Covid vaccine and antiviral pill Paxlovid helped boost sales.
It is a critical quarterly report for Pfizer, which is grappling with activist pressure from Starboard Value.

The PAXLOVID antiviral medications nirmatrelvir co-packaged with ritonavir were developed by Pfizer to treat the virus.
Patrick T. Fallon | Afp | Getty Images

Pfizer on Tuesday reported third-quarter revenue and adjusted profit that blew past expectations as the company’s Covid vaccine and antiviral pill Paxlovid helped boost sales.
The pharmaceutical giant also hiked its full-year outlook and now expects to book adjusted earnings per share of $2.75 to $2.95, up from its previous guidance of 2.45 to $2.65 per share. 

Pfizer now expects revenue in a range of $61 billion to $64 billion, up from a previous revenue forecast of between $59.5 billion and $62.5 billion. That includes roughly $5 billion in expected revenue from its Covid vaccine and $5.5 billion from Paxlovid.
Here’s what the company reported for the third quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG: 

Earnings per share: $1.06 adjusted vs. 62 cents expected
Revenue: $17.7 billion vs. $14.95 billion expected

The company booked third-quarter net income of $4.47 billion, or 78 cents per share. That compares with net loss of $2.38 billion, or 42 cents per share, during the same period a year ago. Excluding certain items, including restructuring charges and costs associated with intangible assets, the company posted earnings per share of $1.06 for the quarter.
Pfizer reported revenue of $17.7 billion for the third quarter, up 31% from the same period a year ago.
It is a critical quarterly report for Pfizer, which is cutting costs as it works to recover from the rapid decline of its Covid business and share price over the last two years. The drugmaker’s shares are trading at about half of their pandemic-era high, putting the company’s market cap at roughly $163 billion. 

Pfizer is also grappling with activist pressure from Starboard Value, which has a roughly $1 billion stake in the pharmaceutical company. 
Starboard managing member Jeff Smith contends that Pfizer failed to capitalize on the windfall earned from its Covid products and, in the process, destroyed tens of billions of dollars in market value. Smith points to what he believes are management’s poor investments in research and development and hefty acquisitions that have yet to be fruitful for the struggling company. 
Notably during the quarter, Pfizer withdrew from world markets a critical sickle cell drug it had acquired in a $5.4 billion deal for Global Blood Therapeutics. 
Starboard is calling for a massive overhaul at Pfizer, saying that the company needs to be more disciplined on its investments.
Meanwhile, Pfizer reiterated Tuesday it is on track to deliver at least $4 billion in savings by the end of the year. The company in May announced a multiyear plan to slash costs, with the first phase of the effort slated to deliver $1.5 billion in savings by 2027. 
Paxlovid brought in $2.7 billion in sales for the quarter, up from the $202 million it posted in the year-earlier period. 
That growth is mainly due to strong demand, particularly in the U.S. during a recent wave of the virus. It was also helped by a one-time contractual delivery of 1 million treatment courses of Paxlovid to the federal government’s national stockpile during the third quarter, which accounted for $442 million in revenue. 
Those results are higher than the $707.7 million in sales that analysts were expecting for Paxlovid, according to estimates compiled by StreetAccount.
The company’s Covid shot booked $1.42 billion in revenue, up 9% from the same period a year ago.
Pfizer said that growth was mainly driven by the timing of stocking for the vaccine, pointing to the earlier approval of the updated version of the shot this fall compared with last year. That growth was partially offset by lower contractual deliveries and demand in international markets.
Analysts expected $1.04 billion in sales for the shot, according to StreetAccount.

Non-Covid product growth

Excluding Covid products, Pfizer said revenue for the third quarter rose 14% on an operational basis, fueled by approved cancer products from Seagen, which it acquired last year for a whopping $43 billion.
Those drugs brought in $854 million in revenue for the quarter, including $409 million from a targeted treatment for bladder cancer called Padcev as well as $268 million from Adectris, a drug that targets certain lymphomas. Pfizer completed its acquisition of Seagen in December.
Revenue also got a boost from sales of Pfizer’s Vyndaqel drugs, which are used to treat a certain type of cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle. Those drugs booked $1.45 billion in sales, up 62% from the third quarter of 2023.
Analysts had expected that group of drugs to rake in $1.37 billion for the quarter, according to estimates from StreetAccount.  
Pfizer said its blood thinner Eliquis, which is co-marketed by Bristol Myers Squibb, also helped drive revenue growth during the period. The drug posted $1.62 billion in revenue for the quarter, up 8% from the year-earlier period. 
That is slightly higher than the $1.59 billion that analysts were expecting, according to StreetAccount. 
Sales of Eliquis could take a hit in 2026, however, when a new price for the drug goes into effect for certain Medicare patients following negotiations with the federal government. Those price negotiations are a key provision of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act that the pharmaceutical industry fiercely opposes.
Meanwhile, Pfizer’s vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, saw $356 million in revenue for the third quarter. The shot, known as Abrysvo, entered the market during the third quarter of 2023 for seniors and expectant mothers who can pass on protection to their fetuses.
Analysts had expected the shot to generate sales of $255.4 million, according to StreetAccount estimates.
Last week, Pfizer’s RSV shot won approval for adults ages 18 to 59 who are at increased risk for the disease – a decision that will likely significantly expand the reach of the jab in the U.S.

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Lucid Group is counting on its upcoming Gravity SUV to assist the automaker in a “significant increase” in sales volumes to narrow the company’s losses, CEO Peter Rawlinson told CNBC.
The Gravity is Lucid’s second vehicle following the Air sedan, which the luxury EV manufacturer has been selling in small numbers since late 2021.
Lucid on Tuesday said customer ordering for the first Gravity model, called the Grand Touring and retailing for $94,900, will open Nov. 7 on its website.

Lucid Gravity Grand Touring SUV

Electric vehicle startup Lucid Group is counting on its upcoming Gravity SUV to assist the automaker in a “significant increase” in sales volumes to narrow the company’s losses, according to CEO Peter Rawlinson.
The Gravity is Lucid’s second vehicle following the Air sedan, which the luxury EV manufacturer has been selling in relatively small numbers since late 2021.

Lucid on Tuesday said customer ordering for the first Gravity model, called the Grand Touring, will open Nov. 7 on the carmaker’s website. It’s set to retail starting at $94,900. Other models are expected to follow, including an entry-level $79,900 Gravity Touring trim late next year.
“I’m very confident we’ll enjoy significant step change in demand for our products, our complete product portfolio,” Rawlinson told CNBC. “We believe there’s about a 6-to-1 ratio … for the SUV over sedan, and that’s going to put us in a very strong position.”

Lucid Gravity Grand Touring SUV

A six-times sales multiplier for the Gravity over the Air would be significant for the company, which has struggled with market awareness and customer demand compared with Wall Street’s expectations and its own initial expectations.
Lucid delivered 7,142 Air sedans to customers through the third quarter of this year, topping its roughly 6,000 vehicles delivered in 2023.
Rawlinson said the company, which is backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, expects customer demand to initially outpace production, as the automaker ramps up output at its sole U.S. plant in Arizona.

Lucid expects to begin serial production of the Gravity for customers by the end of this year, but Rawlinson declined to disclose when customer deliveries are expected to begin.

Lucid Gravity Grand Touring SUV (left) and Lucid Air sedan EVs

Rawlinson said the company is still finalizing federal crash testing, a self-certification process, as well as awaiting range testing from the Environmental Protection Agency, followed by the California Air Resources Board.
Shares of Lucid have been under pressure this year, down roughly 40% as EV demand has been slower than expected. The stock closed Monday at $2.52 per share, up less than 1%.
Lucid is set to report its third-quarter results on Nov. 7 — the day customer ordering opens for the Gravity SUV.
The Gravity Grand Touring will offer more than 800 horsepower and a projected electric range of more than 440 miles, according to Lucid.

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McDonald’s third-quarter earnings and revenue topped Wall Street’s estimates.
Its U.S. restaurants reversed last quarter’s same-store sales decline.
However, investors are worried about another dent to U.S. sales fueled by a recent E. coli outbreak across 13 states linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounder burgers.

McDonald’s on Tuesday reported quarterly earnings and revenue that beat analysts’ expectations as its U.S. restaurants reversed last quarter’s same-store sales decline.
However, investors are worried about another dent to U.S. sales fueled by a recent E. coli outbreak across 13 states linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounder burgers. As of Friday, 75 health cases have been tied to the outbreak, including one death of an older adult.

Health authorities have honed in on the burger’s slivered onions as the likely source, and McDonald’s has suspended its relationship with the supplier. Quarter Pounder burgers will return to affected restaurants on a rolling basis this week, sans slivered onions.
“While the situation appears to be contained, and though it didn’t affect Q3 numbers, it’s certainly an important development, which I know is on many of your minds,” CEO Chris Kempczinski told investors on the company’s earnings call, adding that McDonald’s was sorry and is committed to “making this right.”
Shares of the company fell more than 1% in premarket trading.
Here’s what the company reported for the period ended Sept. 30, compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: $3.23 adjusted vs. $3.20 expected
Revenue: $6.87 billion vs. $6.82 billion expected

McDonald’s posted third-quarter net income of $2.26 billion, or $3.13 per share, down from $2.32 billion, or $3.17 per share, a year earlier.

Excluding certain items, the fast-food giant earned $3.23 per share.
Net sales rose 3% to $6.87 billion.
The chain’s global same-store sales fell 1.5%, a more drastic decline than the 0.6% that Wall Street was expecting, according to StreetAccount estimates, and was weighed down by the company’s international markets. It’s the second straight quarter that the company’s same-store sales have fallen.
“While we anticipated a challenging environment in 2024, our performance this year has fallen short of our expectations,” Kempczinski said.
U.S. same-store sales rose 0.3%, reversing last quarter’s same-store sales declines but still slightly weaker than the 0.5% increase predicted by StreetAccount estimates. Traffic to its U.S. restaurants was slightly negative, but the company credited its marketing and a $5 value meal launched in late June for the increase in sales.
Diners have pulled back their restaurant spending, leading McDonald’s and its rivals to lean into discounts and other marketing tricks to bring customers back to their restaurants. For example, in August, McDonald’s launched limited-time “Collector’s Edition” cups.
The company’s two international divisions both reported steeper declines in same-store sales compared with the prior quarter. The international operated markets segment, which includes France, Germany and Australia, saw same-store sales shrink 2.1%. The international developmental licensed markets division reported same-store sales declines of 3.5%, driven by weak demand in the Middle East and China.
Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, it’s unclear how the E. coli outbreak might affect U.S. sales, particularly as consumers have grown more picky about how to spend their money and where.
McDonald’s executives have taken steps to reassure customers that the company’s menu items are safe to eat, including pulling Quarter Pounder burgers from menus in the affected areas until its beef patties were cleared as the culprit.
Still, foot traffic to U.S. locations fell roughly 10% in the three days immediately following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announcement last Tuesday of the E. coli outbreak tied to McDonald’s, according to a research note from Gordon Haskett Research Advisors.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

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Jason Kim, the new CEO of rocket and spacecraft builder Firefly Aerospace, said he is “going to work maniacally” to scale the company’s efforts, which range from rocket launches to moon landings.
All of Firefly’s product lines are generating revenue, Kim said, and the company has kicked off fundraising a round of capital with a new lead investor.
“At the end of the day, we have to execute. … As long as you execute, you can keep going bigger and bigger and bolder and bolder,” Kim told CNBC in his first interview since becoming Firefly CEO.

CEO Jason Kim in the company’s lunar mission control center.
Firefly Aerospace

Jason Kim just nabbed one of the most coveted yet high-pressure C-suite gigs in the space industry.
As the new CEO of rocket and spacecraft builder Firefly Aerospace, he’s no longer under the Boeing umbrella after leaving his previous role leading their satellite-making subsidiary Millennium. And he’s joined an operation that’s in rarefied air — as one of only four companies in the U.S. with an operational orbital rocket — with growing spacecraft and lunar lander product lines.

But now he’s taking on a launch market dominated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Legacy player ULA and rising challenger Rocket Lab are also ramping up their efforts in the market — with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin hot on their heels.
But Kim is unfazed. He sees gaps in the launch market for Firefly’s Alpha and coming MLV rockets, which slot into the middle of the small-to-heavy class of vehicles. 
“In the history of the world, we started with the sea and then we went to rail, roads and then airplanes. I think space is the next big transportation play. It’s a new category that Firefly is going to help create,” Kim told CNBC, speaking in his first interview since joining the company at the start of this month.

Read more CNBC space news

Millennium worked alongside Firefly last year when it launched the Space Force’s experimental Victus Nox mission, so Kim said he’d already seen first-hand the “unstoppable” attitude and “calculated risk taking” of Firefly employees.
“I’m thrilled to be here. … I’m going to work maniacally to support this team so that we can achieve all of our visionary ideas,” Kim said.

Firefly’s previous CEO was in the job for less than two years before a shock exit in July after reported allegations of an inappropriate employee relationship. It was the latest in what’s been a rollercoaster existence for Firefly. It was founded, went through bankruptcy, got restarted and underwent a federally-forced-ownership swap all in its past decade of existence.
All the while, Firefly’s pushed forward. Building and testing at its “Rocket Ranch” outside Austin, Texas, the 700-person company has launched its Alpha rocket five times from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base, reaching its intended orbit successfully on two of those.
Firefly majority owner AE Industrial Partners moved quickly this summer to bring Kim over from Millennium, as he said he got a call three days after Firefly’s prior leader exited. Kim said being CEO of Firefly “was never in my road map” but emphasized that he was excited for the new challenge.
“What I’ve learned through running multiple companies is that I think autonomy is something that is very precious when you’re running a company, and that autonomy helps you make the best decisions. You use your funds in the best manner to scale, to create differentiators. It helps you continue to grow and innovate at a very rapid pace. And so I would say that Firefly and autonomy are synonymous. That’s what’s going to help us grow and continue to evolve and be sustainable,” Kim said.
Firefly has three main product lines: its rockets, Alpha and MLV; space tugs, called Elytra, and lunar landers, known as Blue Ghost. Kim said all of the company’s product lines are revenue generating, though he declined to say how much money they’re bringing in, and added that the company’s kicked off fundraising a round of capital “with a new lead investor.”
“We’re already seeing significant demand [from investors] … more to come on that soon, but that’s going to help us with all the scaling that we need to do,” Kim said.

More rockets

The company’s fifth Alpha launch lifts off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California in July 2024.
Trevor Mahlmann / Firefly Aerospace

The core of Firefly’s bid to be an end-to-end space transportation company is its rockets. 
Alpha, standing at 95 feet tall, is designed to launch about 1,000 kilograms of payload to orbit — at a price of $15 million per launch.
MLV (Medium Launch Vehicle), standing at 183 feet, is designed to launch as much as 16,300 kilograms of payload to orbit. The intended successor to Northrop Grumman’s Antares rockets, the pair of companies are co-developing MLV and aim to launch it for the first time in 2026.
Alpha and MLV both fit in the middle of the rocket market, between Rocket Lab’s “small” Electron and the “heavy” rockets such as SpaceX’s Falcon 9.
“The small-medium-large model is critical to support all the different needs of the market. … There’s no one size fits all kind of approach,” Kim said.

A rendering of the MLV rocket.
Firefly Aerospace

Kim sees Firefly as having a key advantage — “an engine that works” — in its Reaver engines that power the Alpha rockets. And for MLV, Kim said Firefly took that “great engine technology” and “scaled it up to become Miranda, so you’re not starting from scratch” with a new engine.
“We’re making huge strides on MLV,” Kim said. “We’ve had 50 Miranda engine tests already.” 

A Miranda engine, left, and a Reaver engine.
Firefly Aerospace

Before MLV debuts, Firefly will also be delivering part of Northrop’s Antares 330 rocket, with a first stage similar to MLV’s, by the third quarter of next year.
Additionally, while Firefly’s Alpha may not be reusable, the company has “purposely designed the MLV for reusability.”
“We’re closer to how SpaceX tackled [rocket reuse],” Kim said, referencing how SpaceX added the landing capability of its Falcon 9 rockets over time.
“We want to get some launches to orbit first before we tackle the ‘return to launch site’ part of it,” Kim added. “I do believe that reusability is going to help along the [launch] cadence of the MLV program, but for Alpha, we’re going to just get to our numbers by pure just cadence.”
Firefly has built up a backlog of launches for Alpha, signing deals for upward of 50 launches. That includes bulk orders from Lockheed Martin and L3Harris, as well as trio of launches for startup True Anomaly, one being part of the Space Force’s latest responsive launch mission Victus Haze. 

An aerial view of the “Rocket Ranch” in Briggs, Texas.
Firefly Aerospace

The company focused on infrastructure expansion this year, more than doubling Rocket Ranch’s footprint to over 200,000 square feet of floor space. Next year, Kim aims for Firefly to conduct four to six Alpha launches and then double that annually until Alpha is flying twice a month, or 24 launches a year.
“We could have prioritized doing more Alpha launches this year but instead we prioritized scaling up for the future,” Kim said.

A variety of spacecraft

Kim talks to a company employee outside the clean room of its Blue Ghost lunar lander.
Firefly Aerospace

Firefly has another major debut coming up even sooner: The launch of its first Blue Ghost lunar lander is scheduled for December and is set to touch down on the moon’s surface 45 days after that.
Seven feet tall and 12 feet in diameter, Blue Ghost is flying cargo under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. Firefly is one of three U.S. companies to win CLPS mission contracts. NASA in 2021 awarded Firefly with a $93 million contract for Blue Ghost Mission 1, to deliver 10 research payloads to the moon.
“Any time you go to the moon, the whole world is watching. And when we land that thing, like Simone Biles sticks the landing in the Olympics, we’re going to be a different company,” Kim said.

The Blue Ghost Mission 1 lunar lander.
Firefly Aerospace

Firefly’s other spacecraft is its Elytra line of space tugs, also known as orbital transfer vehicles. The trio —Dawn, Dusk, and Dark — are increasingly large spacecraft that can delivery spacecraft and payloads to orbits ranging from low-above Earth to orbiting the moon.
“[Elytra] is getting the least amount of attention right now at Firefly publicly, but I think in about five years, it’s going to be a flywheel constellation program that’s servicing different missions. And so that’s where my expertise being a satellite manufacturer comes into play, is we can take something like Elytra and turn it into a multi-mission constellation capability,” Kim said.
Kim has only just joined Firefly but he said he already has a clear sense of how the company needs to progress.
“I’ve run companies before. At the end of the day, we have to execute. We’ve got to get a cadence. … As long as you execute, you can keep going bigger and bigger and bolder and bolder,” Kim said. More

Ford guided to the low end of its previously announced 2024 earnings forecast as it slightly topped Wall Street’s third-quarter expectations.
The automaker now expects adjusted earnings before interest and taxes, or EBIT, of about $10 billion, down from a range of between $10 billion and $12 billion.
Ford’s third-quarter results were led by its “Pro” commercial and fleet business as well as its traditional operations, known as “Ford Blue.”

Ford and Lincoln vehicles are displayed for sale at a Ford dealership on August 21, 2024 in Glendale, California. 
Mario Tama | Getty Images

DETROIT — Ford Motor guided to the low end of its previously announced 2024 earnings forecast as it slightly topped Wall Street’s third-quarter expectations.
The Detroit automaker said Monday it now expects adjusted earnings before interest and taxes, or EBIT, of about $10 billion. It had previously guided to between $10 billion and $12 billion. It retained its forecast for adjusted free cash flow of between $7.5 billion and $8.5 billion.

Heading into Monday’s results, several Wall Street analysts were concerned Ford would need to lower its forecast due to softening demand, rising vehicle inventory levels and worries about Ford’s ability to achieve an announced $2 billion in cost cuts this year.
“Our focus continues on cost and quality, which are holding back our progress and represent tremendous upside potential,” Ford CFO and Vice Chair John Lawler said Monday during a media briefing.

Lawler said Ford has achieved its $2 billion in material, freight and manufacturing costs, but higher inflationary and warranty costs have eaten into those improvements and have restricted the company “from having a record year.”
Here’s how the company performed in the third quarter, compared with average estimates compiled by LSEG:

Earnings per share: 49 cents adjusted vs. 47 cents expected
Automotive revenue: $43.07 billion vs. $41.88 billion expected

Shares of the automaker were down by roughly 5% during after-hours trading after closing Monday at $11.37, up 2.7%.

The automaker was under pressure after a disappointing second quarter in which unexpected warranty costs caused the company to miss Wall Street’s earnings expectations.
Lawler said the company’s warranty costs in the third quarter were slightly lower than they were a year earlier after increasing by $800 million year over year during the second quarter.
“It’s an improvement, but it’s not as big as we would like to see,” Lawler said, declining to disclose the overall costs during the period.
Ford’s third-quarter results were led by its “Pro” commercial and fleet business as well as its traditional operations, known as “Ford Blue.” Blue reported adjusted earnings of $1.63 billion, while Pro earned $1.81 billion.
Lawler said Ford Pro and Blue operations are being affected — and likely will continue to be affected — by some supplier problems, in part due to Hurricane Helene in late September.
Ford’s “Model e” electric vehicle unit recorded losses of $1.22 billion during the third quarter — less than it lost a year earlier, largely due to lower volumes and cost cuts.
Ford CEO Jim Farley told investors Monday that the company continues to believe in its EV strategy; however, the automaker has pulled back on many investments in the vehicles to focus on hybrid models.
Ford’s net income for the third quarter was $896 million, or 22 cents per share. Adjusted EBIT increased roughly 16% year over year to $2.55 billion. Ford’s 2023 third quarter included $41.18 billion in automotive revenue, net income of $1.17 billion, or 30 cents per share, and adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of $2.2 billion, or 39 cents per share.
Ford’s overall revenue for the third quarter, including its finance business, increased about 5% year over year to $46.2 billion. It marked the company’s 10th consecutive quarter of year-over-year revenue growth.
Farley noted that the company’s operations in China, where legacy automakers have increasingly struggled, have contributed more than $600 million to the company’s EBIT. That includes Ford’s plans to increase vehicle exports from the country.
Farley also addressed the company’s rising new vehicle inventory levels. Ford has 91 days’ supply of gross inventory, including vehicles in the company’s possession, and 68 days’ supply on dealer lots at the end of the third quarter, which has concerned investors.
He said the mix and price of those vehicles is “really good” and the company is holding back some inventory to assist with vehicle changeovers in early 2025. More